It is known that for people suffering from physical disabilities, the use of public transportation facilities (“the bus”) entails inconveniences which adds to their dysfunction, since they must be able to recognize the place of detention of the public transportation facility the “bus stop”) and once there, to be able to signal said bus to stop, clearly signalling to its driver that the caller is a handicapped person, in order to allow the driver to take the necessary precautions and care, such as correct parking, properly positioning the bus and to be prepared to allow for a longer than usual stopping time, with the eventual attention to the impaired passenger.
Even if in this specification the term “bus stop” and “bus” are employed, their use encompasses all and every other kind of public transportation, such as tramways, city cabs, or the like.
For physically impaired people, including people with poor eyesight, such as people suffering from myopia, cataracts, etc, or for people suffering total blindness, to the above mentioned inconveniences it must be added the complexities derived from their particular conditions, since the people with poor vision or no vision at all, once they are able to recognize and reach the determined bus stop, and once they somehow are capable to signal to said bus to stop, they cannot know when the bus has detected their call, and cannot receive any acknowledgement from the bus driver, and even less are they able to know when said bus is approaching or stopping. Moreover, if the bus stop accommodates more than one bus line, they cannot know if the bus that has stopped is the one they intend to take.
In fact, even if the person interested in boarding the bus has limited eyesight, it takes some people considerable time to be able to identify the particular line bus they intend to board, particularly people of old age.
It is, therefore, important to allow handicapped people, even people with problems in their eyes, to detect their selected bus stop, to reach said bus stop, to call or signal the particular bus they intend to take, and to be sure the driver of this particular bus will stop for them at the bus stop.
Devices which issue a signal, such as a radio link signal, and audible signal, a sensorial or luminous signal, are elements well known in the art, as are the means capable of receiving said signals. In particular, the electronic means capable of issuing a link signal of a determined frequency, and to receive and store it, are well known in the art.
A particular example of the latter is given by radio signals capable of being received by a receiver set. A characteristic example of such radio signal transmitters is given by some known constructions which allows the emission of a radio signal of a determined frequency, either from a fixed location or from a moving location, such as a moving vehicle, and whereby in answer to said signal, the traffic lights change accordingly to “green”, thus allowing free way for an ambulance, fire fighting vehicle or police vehicles to advance without being detained by red lights. Other constructions are use these signals to open or close garage doors, etc.
In all these know devices, the link signal producing the desired effect has one or more particular attributes in order to allow the receiving means to distinguish these signals from other signals, emitted by other means, with or without similar purposes, or including, signals issued upon intrusion or disturbance.
Also, the attribute or attributes allows the receiving means to interpret the order sent by the operator when this operator has at its end several options or indications.
These attributes can be:                a) The frequency of a continuous link signal (this system is quite economical, but is vulnerable.        b) The frequency of a modulated link signal, with analog or digital modulation or codification.        c) The modulating signal (analog or digital) of a series of linking signals having the same frequency of the carrier signal.        
To the ends of this instant patent, no distinction will be made between any of the above mentioned ways to introduce attributes to the link signal, considering all of them as equivalent signal codification means. This is so, even if in the following constructions it is described only one of the possible ways to attain these results.
Also, in the following description neither will any distinction be made between the link means, such as radio frequency in its several wavelengths, infrared signals, microwave, etc.
When in one of the devices forming part of this instant invention it is necessary to receive more than one link signal, such as in the case of the hand-held device used by the handicapped person or user, (“user's portable means”) it will be mentioned that it has more than one receiving set, but it must be understood this is true only for cases mentioned under a) and b).
When dealing with case c) it will be understood that there is a single receiver set, but immediately after it is a separator stage of the several link signals, (for instance, a demultiplexing circuit), which have the same carrier wave but different modulations.
Similarly, if one of the devices is capable to emit more than one signal, it will be mentioned as having more than one sending or emission set, but this can be only true for the cases mentioned under a) or b), and even in these cases it could be that physically there is only one sending device or emitting set, capable of changing its frequency according to the signal to be sent, but in the case listed under c), there is only one emitting set.
Also, when it is mentioned that a signal is being sent or received of a determined frequency, if we are dealing with the case listed under c) it must be interpreted the signal emitted or received has at least one attribute pertaining to a signal having a fixed frequency.
Similarly, when making use of more than one receiver or emission set, the same antennae can be shared between these devices, if the frequency of the sending or received signal falls within the same wave length band, or their frequency are close to one another.
A large city is served by a plurality of public transportation lines or services. Hence a given stopping place may be shared by several transportation lines, in order to allow for the orderly embarkation and disembarkation of the passengers. Moreover, in a large city with several millions of inhabitants, it is usual that in a certain block there can be two or three of said bus of tramway stops. Therefore, in a given length of 200 meters, an average of 24 different bus lines can be served, as it is specifically the case of a large city as Buenos Aires.
A handicapped person, who has his its vision impaired or lessened, may only recognize the several and different bus stops when he practically stumbles upon said bus stops, while the actual transportation means (e.g., the buses) can be recognized and classified at a very short distance. This can lead to peculiar cases of social behavior, and in the case of persons who have a particularly poor vision, such as elderly people, it may lead to self-social exclusion, or social segregation. Now, when considering people who have completely lost their vision, (“blind people”), these problems are of course compounded, since a blind person can now only recognize a bus strop by continuously asking other people, or by reading the Braille cards attached to determined bus stop, such as the poles or similar landmarks identifying said bus stops, when and if said cards are supplied and affixed, of course providing he could find the bus stop in the first place. As a rule, in cities or parts of the city in which said cards are not supplied to said bus stops, blind people encounter really great problems in accessing public transportation, and as a result they must endure large delays, unless accompanied by an able person.
Inevitably this leads to a loss of independence for visually impaired people living within the limits of a large city, converting these handicapped people into socially dependant persons. It should be remembered that about 1% of the total population is blind, and that more than the 5% of the total population has grave vision problems.
Unfortunately, in large cities served by multiple bus services, the problems for the visually impaired people do not stop here. In effect, these people, and particularly people who have lost vision, once the appropriate bus stop has been identified by the user, must be capable of signaling said bus, and be aware his call is being attended to and that the correct bus is approaching, distinguishing the particular bus he intends to board from the many others circulating in the same street and maybe also stopping at the same bus stop, but leading to diverse destinations.
At the same time, under the actual state of the art, the bus driver has no possibility of learning with the due anticipation that he is being requested at a determined bus stop by a handicapped person, and further he has no way to let this person know his call has been received and it is being acknowledged, thus proceeding to the bus stop.
When the instant invention is implemented in any given city, the user of one of the portable devices is able to perform all and any of the above mentioned functions, namely: to identify a given bus stop served by the bus line he intends to board; to be able to call the incoming vehicle of this bus line with the necessary anticipation; to learn his request has been received and it is being acknowledged; to be able to learn that the vehicle is approaching said bus stop, and to reset the signals in order to allow the following user to perform the same tasks.